Angel Puppo

Book Review of the Master Plan of Evangelization

Master Plan of Evangelization is a revolutionary book that answers important questions,

is evangelizing worth doing? Is it getting the job done? Are we fulfilling the great commission?

Are we expanding the gospel? Dr. Coleman goes through Jesus' example of evangelization and

touches points that we have read about several times and touches moments that we had listened

to constantly, but as he does, he also does a mesmerizing analysis that stupefies anybody that

reads them and leaves them asking, how did I miss all these?

Main points

The book goes through 8 steps that clearly describe Jesus' process of evangelization,

which starts at the calling and finishes at the supervision and reproduction of the called ones. It

first starts with selection; here, we learn that men were his method of winning the world. Thus,

the great commission begins, through men, the work that Jesus begins gets carried on until this

day, in here; we learn many points that Jesus show us in his practice as whom to select and how

many to select. Points that are clear but may be easily missed by the reader. Later Jesus goes

through the process of association here; we learn how Jesus trained his disciples, how he did not

just impart much knowledge on one sitting but how he teaches by practice. The disciples became

Jesus' spiritual children, and thus, Jesus became like a father to them, and that role was also

fulfilled in his program of the association. Jesus' goal was to prepare leaders of evangelism.

Consecration, in this point, Jesus makes them holy, separate, different than everyone else.

The disciples needed to show obedience and loyalty. The disciples needed to be followers of

him. Since Dr. Coleman's times, the problem that we face today was relevant, and it is a feel-
good gospel. Sadly, people believe that the gospel can be mixed with their feelings, thinking, and

ideologies. Jesus was looking for obedience to himself and nothing else. In the demonstration,

we learn how Jesus showed them everything they were supposed to do. He lives through

practicing a life of prayer and scripture use. In this point, Jesus shows us that mere knowledge is

nothing if it is not held and given value through action. Then, we get to the point of Delegation.

In this point, Jesus instructs them how to begin working by themselves proclaiming the gospel.

They preached a revolutionary gospel that would change history; they were actual

representatives of Christ on earth. We realize that evangelism is not optional, but it is a need all

Christians called people to enforce as part of their lives. In supervision, we see how Jesus check

on them constantly, review, and gave them an application to their personal lives. Christ did not

send the disciples just to be satisfied with the fruit, but they were called to take them to maturity;

at last, we get to the point of reproduction, here Christ show to his disciples how he expected

them to reproduce his likeness.

Important quotations

"He spent more time with his disciples than with everybody else in the world put

together. He ate with them, slept with them, and talked with them for the most part of his entire

active ministry. They walked together along the lonely roads; they visited together in the

crowded cities; they sailed and fished together on the Sea of Galilee; they prayed together in the

deserts and in the mountains; and they worshiped together in the synagogues and in the

Temple." This quotation is no surprise or revelation to whoever knows the gospel but still

touches me to remember this. We need to be with everyone we disciple; they need to become

like family, like children that no matter if they grow, they would always be in our care and mind.
I am hopeful that as I become a parent pretty soon, I will be able to understand this deep love and

relate it to all people God grants me to disciple in my lifetime.

"The disciples understood that they were not just keeping a law, but were responding to

One who loved them, and was willing to give himself for them." We cannot reproduce this in its

entirety on a cross, but it is a reminder that we need to lead not by communicating wisdom only

but by living on it and giving our life to what we teach, which we have learned from God in his

word. When we decide, and God grants us disciples, we need to be ready to give ourselves an

example.

"This is our problem of methodology today. Well-intended ceremonies, programs,

organizations, commissions, and crusades of human ingenuity are trying valiantly to do a job

that can only be done by people in the power of the Holy Spirit." This is a beautiful reminder.

Sometimes I found myself with some of the church leaders I minister with, thinking and

wondering what we can do to make things better, to bring better communication, communion,

assistance, and all other needs that are found along the road. It is easy to fall into the temptation

of doing human strategies, creating incentives that fall as just human manipulation and doing

things with our strength instead of relying on the strength of God solely.

Concepts Difficult to Understand

For some time, it has been hard to grasp the concept of fatherhood of individuals I

minister to. Sadly this concept has been aggressively abused and overused in the Hispanic

Pentecostal side of the church from which I come. This concept has been brought to justify abuse

in terms of love, giving for one's father. This term justifies the glorification of men, the need to

throw huge parties on their name, the need to serve them as if they were Christ on earth. It is

hard to see this and to think that I may beget some disciples that would look at me as a father.
Running away from this concept, I have fallen on a principle of negation of all self-glory I can

give to myself or people may want to give me. Till this moment, It is hard to understand that

people can be fathered by someone else than the great father we have in heaven. Still, this book

helped me understand how Jesus did become like a father to his disciples and how there can be a

healthy father-son relationship among leaders and disciples which will not work in a "serve me, I

am your father kind of way" but a healthy relationship of a person that gives himself as one

would for a child that needs our attention, help, and education.

Personal Application

Once again, these books change my life. Sadly we think we already know things that

seem simple just because we saw people doing it before, and we were taught to do it in a million

ways. Sometimes we also trust that many of the things we need to do are not hat well explained

in scriptures; therefore, they are open for our application alongside the spirit and "holy instinct"

in how to work them out. Once more, I realize that everything that scripture asks from us is well

explained in scripture, and we just focus on the main points but missed many details that are

crucial for our moves as a Church of Christ, a part of his body, and a wife that is waiting for him.

This book is a natural calling to evangelization and gives hope and trust that we are doing just as

scripture tells us to do, and since we have that trust, we can be confident that God would be

glorified among our work and everything will work out just as he wants it by the sake of his

glory. I am thankful for everything I learned and reflect upon.